I originally bought this lens when it first came and had a rather mixed experience. At the F/2.8 the lens was producing unusable, blurry images. At about F/5.6 it was dead on. I eventually returned the lens for a refund seeing how hard it was to get my hands on a replacement.

So, I waited. I purchased another and it is greatly improved. I'm not sure if it is sample variety or not--or if perhaps Tokina amped up its QC. But the lens is dead sharp all the way through.

I highly recommend this lens and if you get a lemon, return it and get another; it's worth it.

This lens is one of the best deals around from Canon. It's very sharp and a true performer. I'd say that if you're considering it instead of a zoom (70-200), then you should be asking yourself how critical it is to you to be able stand in one place and change focal lengths. Would you use this lens for photojournalism for instance? Probably not, but who's to say so; if you can produce the work with just a prime – get it.